I have never seen a Fireball..
But these stories to be seem pretty common now.
1.Boy Hit By Meteorite Travelling At 30,000mph
10:22am UK, Friday June 12, 2009
A teenager was hit by a meteorite travelling at 30,000mph - and lived to tell the tale....
2.’Ball Of Fire’ Spotted In Spanish Skies
6:54am UK, Tuesday January 06, 2004
Spanish police are combing parts of the country after thousands of people reported seeing a “ball of fire” in the sky.Residents from areas as far apart as the northwestern coast and the south east Mediterranean coast telephoned police to report seeing “a big ball of fire” roaring across the skies on Sunday evening.
I have never seen a Fireball..
But these stories to be seem pretty common now.
"The devil is in the details" -- as I always like to say. Or in this case, the devil is in the "definition"... LOL...
I think more people than one may realize has actually seen a fireball. Look at the following definition.
A fireball is a brighter-than-usual meteor. The International Astronomical Union defines a fireball as "a meteor brighter than any of the planets" (magnitude -4 or greater). The International Meteor Organization (an amateur organization that studies meteors) has a more rigid definition. It defines a fireball as a meteor that would have a magnitude of -3 or brighter if seen at zenith. This definition corrects for the greater distance between an observer and a meteor near the horizon. For example, a meteor of magnitude -1 at 5 degrees above the horizon would be classified as a fireball because if the observer had been directly below the meteor it would have appeared as magnitude -6.
By that definition, I've seen a fireball several times in my life... :-) [the planet Venus is at a magnitude -4 ...]